Servicing front forks

[Grumpy Goat]

You mentioned your original dealer and the confidence you had in the master tech. Were there issues with your original dealer that caused you to have the fork oil changed at another dealer or was the dealer who did the work closer/more convenient than your original dealer?

In the greater Houston area we have the luxury of having 4 BMW dealers, one of which (not naming names but they are in Katy) I would not go to because I don't like the "vibe" when I go there. The other three are OK and one of them is a bit too far away for frequent visits. That leaves me with the one you are asking about and the one I went to yesterday. There were no issues at all with my original dealer other than distance (34 miles away) and the fact that most of the people who were there when I bought my bike are now moved on. Compare this with the dealership I went to yesterday which has a bit more upscale vibe but is still very friendly and is a little closer to home at 23 miles. So I have no real allegiance to either but I am working on maybe growing the relationship with the one in the Woodlands. So far both have been good to me as far as servicing is concerned.

BUT I have come to know the master tech at the original dealer and I like his attitude and his competence. Youngish chap who is mild mannered, clearly quite intelligent, and not interested in spending the customer's money foolishly.

In my younger days I attempted to change the oil on an inverted cartridge fork (GSXR-1000) one time. As I found out removing the forks was the easy part. I ended up bringing the forks to the shop to have them change the oil and to properly set the fork oil level in the fork tubes.
If the fork oil level is not properly set in the fork tubes that will effect how much the forks dive under hard braking. The chamber of air in the fork tube acts as an air spring so that if the fork level is too low you will get more dive on braking and if the level is too high the fork will dive less on braking.

Yes, the complicated process of getting that level right etc came across loud and clear in the Haynes manual. I agree that removing the front end is trivial ... its what you do afterwards that is complicated. The adviser said that replacing the fork oil on the telelever setup of the RT and GS families is much easier and would be done in 2 hours. Ours is more complicated than regular simple upside down forks due to this cartridge arrangement.

So it sounds like, for the frequency of the oil change vs the amount of effort and pleasure (?) gained from the job, this might be one to leave for the dealer if possible.